The Greek Ministry of Energy and Energean Oil & Gas, independent oil and gas exploration and production company in the Eastern Mediterranean, have agreed the conversion of the exploration license for the proven West Katakolon offshore field to a 25-year exploitation license with immediate effect. The West Katakolon Exploitation area (“West Katakolon”) is part of the Katakolon Concession Area and covers a 60km2 area with circa 10 mmbbls recoverable oil. Energean will be the operator of the field development.

West Katakolon is the third oil and gas field to go into development in Greece, following on from the Prinos Oil Field and South Kavala Natural Gas Field, both located offshore in the North Aegean Sea. Both of these fields are operated by Energean. A Field Development Plan (FDP) will be submitted to the Ministry of Energy by the end of February. Drilling is planned for 2018 and will use Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) technology to drill from onshore to offshore reservoirs.

The FDP for West Katakolon will be Energean’s third offshore plan in process over the next few years alongside those for the 15mmbbls Epsilon Oil Field, also in the Prinos Concession, and the much larger proven Karish and Tanin natural gas Fields, offshore Israel. Energean recently announced the acquisition of the world-class 2.4 Tcf resource Karish and Tanin Fields from Delek Drilling and Avner for USD 148 million.

Mathios Rigas, CEO of Energean, comments, “The progression of West Katakolon into its development phase is an important milestone for both Energean and Greece. It will be the first ever hydrocarbon production programme in the west of the country and a major boost to the economy following the challenges of the last few years. We are committing to the USD 50 million investment in Katakolon, as a first step in seeking to open up the oil and gas opportunities in this highly promising territory – an area with similar geology to the wider Adriatic Zone, well known for its prolific hydrocarbon systems in Italy, Albania and Croatia.”

“During what has been a challenging period for the industry, Energean has taken advantage of its strong cash flow from Prinos to make sure it is well placed for a recovery in the oil price. It has continued to invest through the low point in the upstream cycle, not least through increasing the 2P and 2C reserves up to 60 million barrels of oil in total and bringing Prinos up to 5,000 barrels per day production. Energean is aiming to increase this to 10,000 barrels per day by 2018 through an ongoing USD 200 million investment programme with low break even costs. We have acquired two new licenses in Western Greece, been awarded two blocks offshore Montenegro and one more onshore Western Greece, and most recently purchased the Karish and Tanin natural gas fields in Israel. Energean has also prepared for exploration drilling in Egypt, onshore West Kom Ombo block in the next few months.”

“We have a strong and committed shareholder base, the backing of the EBRD and collaborations with some of the biggest players in the upstream sector, including BP, Schlumberger, Archer, and DNV GL. We have been using our own drilling rigs, support vessels and infrastructure and, having already invested more than USD 350 million in the upstream sector, we are now ready to move on to the next exciting stage in our development and growth as one of the leading independent players in the under-exploited Eastern Mediterranean.”

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